Ring Around the Rosie
by Kevvy Talks
Summary: You're right, brother. You are tainted...which is why I have to kill you.  Yuki changes the notes of a song forever.


**Title: Ring Around the Rosie**

**Pairings: There's some Kaname~Yuki and sweet Yuki~Zero at the end. **

**Rating: T**

**Summary: "You're right, brother. You are tainted, which is why I have to kill you."**

**A/N: Warning. This has MAJOR spoilers for vol. 11 of Vampire Knight. It recounts the events after Kaname took Yuki away from the Academy. I kept her in character as much as I could. **

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><p>Her name was Yuki Cross; it would be Yuki Kuran after she married Kaname, her strong beautiful Kaname, a pureblood vampire. Recently, the only memories she'd had prior to five were naught. She'd grown up loving the Night Class president, Kaname Kuran, who was actually her brother, and she'd been raised nurturing Zero Kiryu, who in turn had hurt her just as much as she'd inflicted pain on him.<p>

Cross Academy is attended by two groups of students: the Day Class and the Night Class. At twilight, when the students of the Day Class gathered their things and returned to their dorms, they crossed paths with the mysterious Night Class on their way to school. Yuki Cross had formally been a Guardian alongside Zero, their duty to protect the Day Class from the Academy's well kept secret: the Night Class is full of vampires. Rido, her uncle, hellbent on murdering her, was now gone, but the battle would still forever rage on. Zero had proclaimed himself now her enemy, nothing less would satisfy him until she was dead.

How ironic, she thought, that after so long of being inseparable friends they were now reduced to lifelong enemies, she running while he gave chase.

It was over now. The Night Class was left to memories and tales to tell, its once proud stature now abolished. Zero still carried out his duties as vampire hunter, and Yuki was hidden away at the Kuran residence with Kaname. Now, she was having her doubts about embracing the life of a pureblood vampire.

She is Yuki, the princess of the Kuran family- and a pureblood vampire. Ten years ago, her mother exchanged her life to seal away Yuki's vampire nature, turning her into a human. Destiny had parted the both of them. No matter how she wanted things to be, their fates just weren't meant to intertwine.

She blamed herself incessantly as Kaname took her hand and led her away from the toiled remains of the Night Class dorm. Something dark and cold grew inside her, something unfulfilled and deficient as her brother guided her off school grounds. He only spoke once they'd entered the underground passage leading to the Kuran residence, commenting on how quiet she was. "Tired?" he inquired. She met his gaze and smiled. "It was a lot more tiresome sitting still in the car on our way here," she spoke to assure him she was fine. "It's just...I'm not sure what to talk about." She felt her heart flutter when he looked at her and squeezed her hand gently. "To be honest...I'm not sure what to say, either." Hearing him confess all his fears and desires to her as he'd never done before made her feel slightly insecure. Yuki felt helpless, worthless, even, when tears glazed her vision. He'd mentioned Zero. Yes, her heart was still connected to him, but not in the way Kaname suspected. The words they spoke and the emotion coating them seemed to float in the emptiness of the atmosphere without really being registered beforehand. "I don't want lies...to manifest between us, Yuki," he murmured. "Yuki...I'm the one who took Shizuka's life and powers."

Yuki thanked the universe that she was standing behind him when he spoke those words. She didn't say anything in response to it, but she felt something inside her grow heavy with the meaning of the information. Kaname voiced their arrival to the household she'd been born in. Still, she found she was just acting in order to steer herself away from the magnitude of the truth that she was attempting in dire to avoid. So Yuki acted, she danced about like a puppet on strings in accordance to Kaname's feelings, as if they were tied to her own. She felt as if he was pulling on her heartstrings on purpose somehow, even when he told her that he'd killed all the members of the senate. Maybe he was trying to coerce a hateful reaction from her? Well, he wasn't going to get one.

"Taint me too," she begged, clinging to him as if in simulation of anguish.

"Yuki...those eyes will allure a vampire," he said, caressing her cheek. _Like you? _she thought as they embraced. The kiss was passionate on his part, and Yuki reciprocated falsely, hating and loving the disgust that swelled in her heart. _What have I become? How many countless nights and days...have I spent in vain? _The despair was a familiar notion that made her recount all the times she had spent in misery over Zero during his periods of bloodlust.

_Vampires are filthy scum! They should have never existed...Heartless beasts with no souls. _Blood stained the mahogany, going unbeknownst to the two bodies meshed up against the wall. This was what they lived for...but...why did it seem so pointless now?

A year passed, one very long strenuous year. Kaname kept coaxing her into using her fangs to feed now. She was resisting intentionally. Inside, she was a monster, like Zero said, an animal that wanted to kill and maim, a creature without a soul. When she lapped at the hand of her master, she did so with a craving, and a sense of hatred that she resented inwardly and coveted to obscure her real objective. The plan blossomed into a dream, and that dream into something that clawed at the barrier she'd set for it, a yearning that wanted to be let loose. Hanabusa was her tutor now, and coached her in schooling while Ruka coached her in etiquette. Yuki thought past all of that when she was alone, like now. She was sure she could smell snow, and it was so quiet...

Yuki was jolted forward into the present when Aido banged on the door and began berating her for doodling. She hadn't been doing anything of the sort.

Writing a letter to Zero had been her plan, but now, it seemed so pointless when she was at a loss for what to say that would be appropriate. Besides, he would never answer. Sayori would, she contemplated hopefully...but how would it be delivered? Either way, if Kaname found out Yuki knew he would worry. He already had enough self-guilt to pile on his shoulders without her adding to the load.

"By the way...who was the letter for?" Aido asked, settling himself down in his chair and opening his textbook. Yuki was tacit, but she wasn't thinking. She lied, and told him it was for "Yori." As Hanabusa told her, she was prohibited from mentioning the mansion or vampires seeing as they didn't know what had taken place at the Academy since Rido's rampage. "I would rather wait," she said. "After all, I want to cherish my time with Kaname-sama for now."

It was mostly reflex that compelled her into using honorifics, but she knew better. Yuki still couldn't adjust to the knowledge that he was her mate now. Acting was appropriate, especially if one screwed up in front of the aforementioned person. "'Sama'?" he queried, dark brown tresses sweeping into his eyes again as he entered the room. "Why don't we drop the 'sama'...and just call me 'Kaname'?" Yuki spluttered, embarrassed, using 'sama' again and then mistakenly calling him 'brother' instead of the greeting he'd asked her to use. He wasn't angry, though, he never was. It was a split second visit before he left straight away again, but she told herself it was kind of him that he dropped by to see her. Yuki leaned forward and nuzzled him as Kaname bent forward to do the same. Aido's father made an untimely interruption that cut the bittersweet moment too short in her opinion. It was reckless, but she didn't mind; she had a class to do right now and some homework later on. Besides, these moments of piercing each other and holding one another would only last for so long before it was finally put to an end. Something would tear them apart eventually, a vampire hunter, maybe, or a tragic accident.

_What does "forever" mean...? If I were with you forever, Kaname-sama, I could travel to the end of the world or to the end of the sky, and I would still have to keep going...because there is no end to it. That is forever. _More and more, Yuki was beginning to understand what it was like to be a pureblood vampire, and the expectations that await her every second that she was with this man. He was lying to her, hiding in secrets and toying with her like something suspended on a string. She had told herself she was willing to wait...but what would it be like if she had to wait forever and ever? Forever wasn't bliss, it wasn't a dream; forever was hell, a fathomless, suffocating pit. Zero had been right all along. She wasn't getting the deal of a lifetime, because in return for herself she was going to suffer the fear of never dying and being hunted for the rest of eternity. All the cells in her body knew what it means, even if she herself couldn't totally comprehend it. Yuki could feel it coming on. _I understand. I'll never die, like Kaname-sama. _And yet, another part of herself fiercely screamed, contradicting all of that and holding a book of her own secrets held tightly to its bosom. _No! You don't understand! You'll never understand! If you did, then you wouldn't be trying to hide from me, crushing me. You're denying the inevitable. Look at what you're doing to yourself! _

She couldn't take it anymore, watching this sight before her. Was it wrong? To want him by her side, to eat his feelings and blood just to satisfy herself even though she knew well that it was always temporary? Pleasure was temporary, something to fill the emptiness to momentarily hide the aching in one's being. The rose encased in resin was only something to buy her satisfaction, her love. And yet... _"Do you still feel scared?"_

"No...," she whispered, curling up into the fetal position on the floor. Yuki's textbooks were scattered around her. She should be studying or Aido would whack her over the head for procrastinating. But she was so thirsty... _Are you going to let him pamper you again? _A cynical laugh mocked her from the back of her mind. Feeble attempts at being self-sufficient by biting her own wrist had only caused more pain than satisfaction. Yuki had taken a path down a corridor she'd never noticed before, thinking that she'd smelled Kaname nearby. A door she had never seen before met her eyes when she turned a corner, Aido trailing behind when he'd caught whiff of her scent. It was like a fantasy, Kaname coming just in time to prevent Aido from giving her blood tablets while she welcomed him home. Her eyes lingered on the blood tablets in Aido's palm for only a few seconds before she was wrapped up in Kaname's arms. Vampires can only quench their thirst with the blood of the one they love, he told her. But a part of her heart was still tied to someone else, he knew.

Yuki found herself dancing about again in false lies, pirouetting about without control. She wanted Kaname to think she was in longing for Zero, that was why she mentioned his name in the first place, tears building on reflex rather than emotion. _Should I even be here with you? _she thought.

"I don't mind if you love someone else, Yuki. You want me here, now. You're agonizing over it...because you feel love for me, as well," he crooned.

Something twisted her insides erratically, and it was all she could do just to lower her head instead of twisting away from his grip.

"I...don't deserve the honor of receiving a kiss from you!" she announced. Yuki apologized and turned away, picking up her pace when she heard him following her. It fought to get out, to be voiced, this cunning desire inside her. She didn't want to think she was capable of those kinds of things, so she steered clear of it. Even when Kaname pulled her back into his chest, she was still fighting. "Yuki. What is wrong? One second you want me to hold you, to stay with you...and the next you're running from me." _Because you couldn't possibly imagine what I'm thinking, what I want. Reject me, Kaname! I'll find a way to take responsibility if you'd only just let me go!_

"I'll never let you go," he replied. "If I was to let you go...I'd rather take my own life...or have you kill me." Yuki's body heated up with excitement, her eyes widening, body taut as he pulled her close and settled her hand against his heart. "What?" she questioned, hoping that this was some delusion, that what he'd said was just some joke. Kaname was incapable of such a thing in such a serious situation involving their love, or rather, _his love. _

"We can just go get your Artemis rod at the next congregation and you can end me by your own hand..." He inclined his head, breath hot on her neck.

Yuki blushed. "You're not being serious..." Somehow, it was still ironic that she gave into him again like so many times before and agreed to feed off him.

_So you feel pleasure from what I do, brother? If you wanted distress so badly all you had to do was ask. _Kaname got down on his knees, and she took his face gently in her hands before leaning forward and sinking her fangs into him. Yuki was far from happy, but she indulged in what he gave her and no less.

The night after the meeting, the vampires were going to be attending a soiree. From what Kaname told her, it was very important, and its purpose was to reaffirm that both sides were cooperating again. Yuki had grace, but she practically failed in all of Ruka's classes involving balance, coordination, and an elegance that was practically a pain in the ass to achieve. Kaname was there, spectating, and watched as Yuki nearly tripped down the stairs trying to balance a book on her head and landed without hurting herself whatsoever. She giggled and promised him that she wouldn't humiliate him in front of his other friends. "I'm sorry that I've been a bit...," she began, and trailed off. _What should I say? Sorry I've been...off? Odd? Acting stupid? Weird? _

Yuki inhaled. "I think...I finally see the chosen path I should take...," she told him. She put her hand on the banister, feeling the sensation of the smooth wood beneath her skin, and walked up the stairs to the next floor. Ruka wouldn't be in until awhile later, but it wasn't like it mattered; there was something she had to check on anyway. Looking around to see if she was being watched, Yuki hurried over to Kaname's room and flung the door open before diving in, hoping that she'd hadn't been sighted by any of the maids. She knew she shouldn't be so paranoid when he was, after all, her brother and mate, but what she was about to embark on could not have an audience, and must be done without moving anything out of place. Kaname's room was overall very tidy, his bed made and untouched, lacking warmth that would have been impressed into the sheets had he been sleeping there recently. His desk was cleared, the drawers, when she pulled them open delicately, containing papers and written mementos from ages ago, mostly from his friends.

_If I were Kaname...where would I put it? _she contemplated. Yuki strode over to his dresser and pulled open one of the drawers, sifting through his clothing, which had been pressed and ironed, and folded to perfection. She tried as hard as he possibly could to not disturb anything, but out of frustration and anticipation, she eventually began taking everything out and throwing it over her shoulder recklessly. Yuki sighed, beginning to move to the next drawer, when she heard something metallic clatter to the floor behind her. Whipping around, she caught sight of her Artemis rod as it rolled out from one of Kaname's collared shirts, having been folded in the fabric so she couldn't have found it. It must have been knocked loose when Yuki had hurled it over her head.

Giddy, she hopped over to it and picked it up, clutching it to her breast. It was her keen hearing that warned her of Ruka ascending the stairs with two maids close behind. Frantic, Yuki ran out of the room, skidding on the floor in her socks as she turned around to close the door behind her before propelling herself down the hall to her own domicile. She cursed herself for not having the time to pick up all Kaname's clothing off the floor, but he probably wouldn't notice it for some time due to all the work he had going on at present. Besides, it wasn't like her alibi would be of any use after tonight...

"Okay, let us begin," Ruka said after she found Yuki in her room. Yuki was silent, crouched over in a corner as she mulled over her internal dilemma.

She'd had far too long to decide on what she was going to do, but she was still having her qualms on whether... Well, it didn't matter now.

"I can't do this. I'm starting to get nervous...really nervous," she whimpered.

"Stop that! The maids are here now, so quit dawdling!" Ruka stated crossly, turning now to address the maids. "You two, get to it!" The maids descended, attacking Yuki and throwing her to the floor while pulling her clothing off. "Hey! I can undress myself! Stop it!" After the horror of being undressed by two strangers, Yuki was left alone to wait for Kaname while she gathered her bearings. She went over to her bed and pulled Artemis from the mattress, grabbing its leather strap and holstering it to her leg, that way no one would see it underneath her dress. Yuki gazed at herself in the mirror, flipping her hair over her shoulder. For once, she was steeling herself, coercing herself to accept the outcome that she'd come to in her mind. Tonight, there was no Yuki "Cross" or Yuki "Kuran", there was just "Yuki" and that wouldn't change this evening no matter what anyone called her.

A soft knock on the door brought her back to the present. "May I come in, Yuki?" Kaname called, his voice like silk. Yuki put on her best smile as he strode in, dipping her head in recognition. "Kaname-sama," she spoke.

"No. You promised that you would call me "Kaname" now, remember?" he rectified. Yuki bit her tongue and forced herself to smile as she reached out to take his hand. She made herself indifferent to the world as she was led to the main event, her face passive, her senses on high alert.

When they entered the area where the party was being attended, everything slowed down. Yuki recalled her lessons with Ruka and reacted accordingly, taking fine, sure steps into the room. The vampires parted when they saw Kaname and his well-renowned princess, and from the crowd she saw Zero Kiryu, and at that moment he was all she saw, and all she concentrated on. Then Sayori called out her name, and the young girl was rushing towards her, and everyone within the vicinity pulled straight back as they recognized this woman to be a human. _No! Don't! _Yuki shouted mentally. _Not yet, just when I..._

Zero blended with the others in the gathering, flitting amongst them as he prepared to attack once one of her kind went to harm Sayori. Everything was suddenly happening too fast, and when Yuki saw Kaname tensing for action the second Zero descended upon them, she knew what she had to do.

_This is for you... _Blood, and so much of it, too. Everyone stilled for a split second, as if not understanding the gravity of the situation, and suddenly they were all put into motion. Someone screamed, following the distraught cries of everyone else within proximity. Zero and Sayori halted, he with the Bloody Rose in his hand and she with her hands clutched to her bosom. There was a gurgled gasp for air as Kaname collapsed to the ground, blood pooling around him as it flowed profusely around the weapon lodged in the curvature between his neck and shoulder. He stared up at his attacker with glassy eyes, hand gripping Artemis' blade from where Yuki had drove it into him. "You're right...Kaname," she spoke. "You _are_ tainted, which is why I had to kill you."

Yuki gripped the cloth at his chest. "If you had just been the kind vampire I'd thought you were...then it would never have had to come to this. My Kaname-sama...I'm sorry. But we're both dead, cursed to roam this world forever. I just never understood what "forever" meant..." She breathed in deeply, knowing their time together was drawing to a close as he gasped, chocking on the blood in his throat. "If I descend to the bottom with you...then I will be defeating my purpose...to help other people!" she cried. "You're not the Kaname I remember when I was little. You're a monster now. You said...you feel pleasure from anything I do, even if it's a cruel request. So...I'm going to grant you some distress, brother...by ending your life." Kaname coughed up blood, smiling as he reached up and cupped her face. _End me, Yuki. _Yuki raised her hand and thrust it straight through his chest, gripping his lifeforce in her hand for only a split second before ripping it out of him, killing the man she had been convinced was the one she would spend her entire life with as Zero bellowed at some of Kaname's followers. The gore caused many women attending the soiree to scream, outraged vampires being held back by the hunters, who were attempting to prevent this spectacle from being blown out of proportion. Yuki grabbed Artemis and fled the scene, vaulting herself straight through a window and shattering the glass. Adrenaline prevented Yuki from recalling much of what happened after she hit the ground, because all she was concentrated on was running and getting away before she was swarmed.

Eventually, something had to give, and that was Yuki. She panted, slowing to a halt as her body registered the effects of the last hour. Yuki was aware that she was now a fugitive, but she had already thought of that before she had ever comprehended killing Kaname. It was over now, and even if it took months or years, she would one day feel again. She was free, away from the hellish confines of the Kuran residence. Yuki breathed in the fresh air and swung her arms around her, smiling and skipping along the road while she remained alert for possible passerby or cars. She sensed him up coming up behind her, but she didn't say anything until he was close enough to breathe down her neck. He spoke first. "Why did you do it?"

"For you, Zero," she said, clasping the Artemis rod behind her back while she walked. Zero scoffed. "For me? What kind of stupid answer is-"

"Because I finally understand what you went through all those years as a vampire. I understand how it must have felt...to feel as if you were dragging everyone down with you into your own hell." Yuki turned to face him, and, as ever, he was wearing that scowl and the stern expression.

"It's not what you are that makes you the monster, Zero, it's the choices you make and the things you do," she said. "Kaname-sama was my Achilles' heel. I loved him, but as long as I was with him he was going to suffer for his mistakes and I for mine. I had to put him out of his misery." Zero pulled out his gun and pointed it at her, point-blank, but Yuki did not stir up hostility in her gaze whatsoever. "Yes, but you've killed a pureblood. You know what this means, right?" he asked, and when she didn't answer he spoke again. "This means I have a legitimate reason to kill you." A breeze picked up, causing Yuki's dress to billow about her, and she simply stepped forward, reaching out and lowering the gun to her heart. "I regret the decisions I've made. I've killed my only biological family and what family I had when I was human wishes to turn me to dust," she said. "If pulling that trigger appeases you, Zero, then I'll let you kill me. I don't want to be your enemy anymore...and I'm sorry I'm a vampire. I'm sorry I can't change. If I could, I'd do anything to rewind time so we could be together again, like before." The gun pointed at her heart wavered. "Is the Yuki I know anywhere in there?" he chocked out.

Yuki wished she could say yes, that she still knew her old self and that she was going to cut her hair and they were going to be normal like before, but...she couldn't. "No." If she was going to die, it would be in bliss and the comfort of knowing that it had been by a very capable person. If she died, at least she knew that she had accomplished something. Yuki flinched when she heard a click, her eyes screwed shut. "You can stop making faces. I'm not going to shoot you. C'mon, I'm gonna take you to my hideout," he offered. Zero walked by her, taking her hand and dragging her along with him.

"Hey! I can walk, ya know!" she hollered. He smirked. _Not the old Yuki, my ass. I knew you were still in there. _

_We may not be able to atone for our sins, but we can try by eradicating the filth that pollutes this earth. Yuki, work alongside me. Be my partner again. _

She smiled, gripping his hand. _And kick bad guy butt? You're on! _He rolled his eyes at how giddy she was acting. _The apartment's kinda bleak without someone with me. And I missed your cooking. Kaien nearly killed me with his new organic foods. _They both laughed. Yuki skipped again and began singing Ring Around the Rosie. "Ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down..."


End file.
